I tried to observe the main loop keeps running while the screendump does its work.
The main loop appears to lack trace points. Alright, if there's no hammer handy, I'll use a rock: diff --git a/softmmu/vl.c b/softmmu/vl.c index 5549f4b619..b6561a65d7 100644 --- a/softmmu/vl.c +++ b/softmmu/vl.c @@ -1661,6 +1661,7 @@ void qemu_main_loop(void) #ifdef CONFIG_PROFILER ti = profile_getclock(); #endif + printf("*** main loop\n"); main_loop_wait(false); #ifdef CONFIG_PROFILER dev_time += profile_getclock() - ti; First experiment: does the main loop continue to run when writing out the screendump blocks / would block? Observe qmp_screendump() opens the file without O_EXCL. Great, that lets me block output by making it open a FIFO. Terminal#1: $ mkfifo s Terminal#2: $ upstream-qemu -S -display none -chardev socket,id=qmp,path=test-qmp,server=on,wait=off -mon mode=control,chardev=qmp *** main loop *** main loop *** main loop Keeps printing at a steady pace. Terminal#3: $ socat "READLINE,history=$HOME/.qmp_history,prompt=QMP>" UNIX-CONNECT:$HOME/work/images/test-qmp {"QMP": {"version": {"qemu": {"micro": 50, "minor": 2, "major": 4}, "package": "v4.2.0-2069-g5e5ae6b644-dirty"}, "capabilities": ["oob"]}} QMP>{"execute": "qmp_capabilities"} {"return": {}} QMP>{"execute": "screendump", "arguments": {"filename": "s"}} The printing in terminal#2 stops. This is expected; qemu_open() calls open(), which blocks, because the FIFO has no reader. Terminal#1: $ exec 4<s Now the FIFO has a reader. Terminal#2 remains quiet. We now hang in ppm_save(). Abridged stack backtrace: #0 0x00007ffff519d0f5 in writev () at /lib64/libc.so.6 #1 0x0000555555e15f61 in qio_channel_file_writev (ioc=0x5555567bf5f0, iov=0x555556a441b0, niov=1, fds=0x0, nfds=0, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/io/channel-file.c:123 #2 0x0000555555e133d3 in qio_channel_writev_full (ioc=0x5555567bf5f0, iov=0x555556a441b0, niov=1, fds=0x0, nfds=0, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/io/channel.c:86 #3 0x0000555555e137a2 in qio_channel_writev (ioc=0x5555567bf5f0, iov=0x555556a441b0, niov=1, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/io/channel.c:207 #4 0x0000555555e13696 in qio_channel_writev_all (ioc=0x5555567bf5f0, iov=0x7fffe9d81bd0, niov=1, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/io/channel.c:171 #5 0x0000555555e139b1 in qio_channel_write_all (ioc=0x5555567bf5f0, buf=0x555556b05200 "", buflen=1920, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/io/channel.c:257 #6 0x0000555555cd74ff in ppm_save (fd=22, image=0x5555568ffdd0, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/ui/console.c:336 #7 0x0000555555cd77e6 in qmp_screendump (filename=0x555556ea0900 "s", has_device=false, device=0x0, has_head=false, head=0, errp=0x7fffe9d81d10) at /work/armbru/qemu/ui/console.c:401 A brief inspection of qio_channel_file_writev() and qio_channel_writev_all() suggests this might work if you make the output file descriptor non-blocking. $ head -c 1 <&4 | hexdump -C 00000000 50 |P| 00000001 Still quiet. $ cat <&4 >/dev/null The printing resumes. $ exec 4<&- Second experiment: does the main loop continue to run while we wait for graphic_hw_update_done()? Left as an exercise for the patch submitter ;)